Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Comparing transparency

The idea of transparency is being tossed around in the American presidential campaign, but the concept is important in comparative politics, too. Transparency contributes to legitimacy, honesty, and rule of law.

The Economist's reporting on the resignation of Mexico's finance minister, Luis Videgaray, mentioned the well-respected NGO Transparency International. That makes this a good time to review the concept and the organization.

Political transparency measures the degree to which the discussions and actions of governments and actors in governments are open to public scrutiny. Most often the assumption is that more transparency makes for more honest and responsible government and politics.

TO SAY things have been going badly for Enrique Peña Nieto… would be an understatement. Recent embarrassments include… an ill-judged rendezvous with Donald Trump. On September 7th Mr Peña tried to put the unpleasantness behind him by accepting the resignation of the finance minister, Luis Videgaray, his most important deputy, who had hopes of becoming president in 2018.

Most observers assume Mr Videgaray took the fall for suggesting Mr Trump’s visit in the first place…

Mr Peña’s use of a scapegoat does not answer the most pressing questions he faces: how to avoid irrelevance in the final two years of his term and prepare his Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) for the next election…. The country’s corruption rating, as measured by the researchers of Transparency International, is stubbornly and embarrassingly poor for a democracy whose economy is the 15th largest in the world…

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